


And Dance With Me to Neverland

by isuilde



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, Makoto's Birthday Exchange 2013, Unrepentant Fluff, in which they just go on a date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-17
Updated: 2013-11-17
Packaged: 2018-01-01 20:02:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1047996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isuilde/pseuds/isuilde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Let’s make one thing clear: Rin and Makoto don’t go out on dates a lot.</p><p>(In which Rin and Makoto go on a date, and end up ice skating with two brats.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Dance With Me to Neverland

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Halcyon_Morpho_Menelaus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halcyon_Morpho_Menelaus/gifts).



> This is written for the Makoto's Birthday Exchange 2013, so Happy Birthday, Makoto!
> 
> I apologize in advance because this was written rather hastily. Pinch-hitting for [Halcyon_Morpho_Menelaus](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Halcyon_Morpho_Menelaus), hopefully I do this prompt of yours justice!
> 
> Prompt: I would like to see Makoto and Rin go on an interactive date with each other. By interactive, I mean somewhere like a rollerskating rink, an amusement park, a haunted house, laser tag, or somewhere else where they're doing a physical activity with one another. I'd just like to read them being adorable dorks and having fun together, and whether or not this date ends with a simple kiss or a more heated encounter is up to the filler.

Let’s make one thing clear: Rin and Makoto don’t go out on dates a lot.

 

It’s not that they don’t want to, it’s just that they don’t really have the time nor reasons to go out on dates. Being third years mean this year would be their last chance to go to the Nationals, their last chance to properly compete in races, so each of them spends a lot of time training. Not to mention that being third years also means that school is demanding their very soul to be given into academic efforts, which means when they’re not training (or juggling part-time jobs, in Makoto’s case), they’ve got a mountain of things to study.

 

But it doesn’t mean that they don’t want to go on dates.

 

On that note, Makoto thinks, it is very logical for him to be looking forward to their date today. It’s been months since the two of them could go out properly without anyone else tagging along—he loves having the company of his friends, he really does, but sometimes he wants to be able to brush his shoulder affectionately against Rin without having to be subjected to the teasing and knowing smiles from the rest of the gang.

 

So he told Rin that they should go for a date some time, and Rin said, “let’s go to Kurayoshi.”

 

Kurayoshi—a small town bustling with quaint retro shops and well-preserved historical districts. The houses look like they’re ripped straight from a Meiji-era evening drama, and there are narrow canals and waterways lining their ways through the town. It’s a nice place to just walk around and unwind; a place that looks a little out of this world with its storehouses and traditional craft shops and antique stores. They pass through the Utsubuki Kouen, where Rin looks up longingly at the bare sakura trees, and says, “We probably should come here again when it’s spring.”

 

Makoto tugs on Rin’s scarf to cover the small patch of skin peeking out to greet the winter breeze. “They say it’s one of the top hundred best hanami site in Japan.”

 

And then, because Makoto thinks Rin, as the romantic one, would like it, he says, “We should go walk along the canals.”

 

“Sap,” Rin snorts at him, but from time to time his fingers would catch Makoto and hold on for a second longer before releasing them again, and Makoto chuckles.

 

They walk along the canals, make a detour to the Akagawara Craft District, follow another waterways, pass a small coffee shop and finally make it to the town center. There’s an open skating rink circling the big Christmas tree where children happily chase each other in. Rin takes a long look at the skating rink, then turns to Makoto and says, “Oi, Makoto, let’s skate.”

 

“Eh?” Makoto blinks. Well, that comes as a surprise. Makoto’s pretty good in the water, but he’s pretty sure he’d make a spectacle of himself if he tries to get on ice. He is physically huge, and nothing about him is graceful. Not even his swimming. “Uh, I’m—Rin, I’m not sure it’s a good idea—“

 

Rin smirks. “What,can’t you ice skate?”

 

The heat spreads on Makoto’s face so fast, he isn’t sure if it’s from embarrassment or disapproval. His tone turns defensive. “Well, I don’t do it a lot. None of my family like it, and the last time I went was back in grade school…”

 

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” Rin shrugs. “You just need to get used to it. I’ll help you.”

 

And that’s how they find themselves renting two pairs of skates—one in black and one in white, because Makoto somehow manages to charm the old woman on the register who insists that Makoto wears the white pair. They end up renting those skates for half-price, which works for Rin, because that means they could stop by the coffee shop and have some hot chocolate after skating. Makoto feels a little bad, but his thoughts are easily dissuaded by Rin’s hands on his ankles.

 

“What are you doing,” Makoto asks dumbly.

 

“Helping you putting on the skates,” Rin replies lightly, deft hands making short work of the laces on Makoto’s skate. He pulls on them tight until Makoto winces, tying them into dead knots and tucking the aglets beneath the knots. He tapped the shoes twice, making sure that it won’t come loose when they play. “Can you stand, Makoto?”

 

“Uh,” Makoto says, pushing himself onto his feet and nearly stumbles when he steps forward. Rin grins, teasing and rogue, puts a hand on Makoto’s arm and steadies him. “You oaf.” He teases good-naturedly.

 

“I am standing on a blade,” Makoto complains. “I am going to embarrass myself out there.”

 

“You’re hanging out with Nagisa too much,” Rin tells him. “Stop exaggerating.” And then he’s pulling Makoto out to the skating rink, where everything under Makoto’s feet is nothing but promises of imbalance and falling. He grabs the sideboards instinctively, tries to dig his skate deep into the surface of the ice as if rooting himself to the place. The children pass him with echoing laughter and shouts, and Makoto watches one of them hit a rut on the ice and stumble, bringing down a boy skating next to him in an ungraceful flurry, ending with an irritated huff and ringing giggles.

 

Rin gives him a ridiculous glance. “Makoto, seriously.”

 

“I can’t skate,” Makoto shakes his head vigorously. “I’ll fall, seriously, Rin—“

 

Rin grins, one hand reaching out towards Makoto just as the wind rustles his red hair gently. “I’ll help you, come on.”

 

Just like way back then in grade school, when Rin offered a hand and told him to join his relay team, Makoto can’t not take his hand.

 

Rin’s grip is steady and strong, the lines of muscles under his winter jacket visibly flexing as he pulls Makoto off the sideboards. Makoto stumbles forward slowly, nothing graceful in his steps, but Rin takes both his gloved hands and lets him hold on. It’s nice, having Rin’s hands in his own, stepping forward as Rin slowly skates back, and not a single person looks twice at them because after all, it’s just a boy teaching a friend how to skate.

 

The thought makes him relax, his steps coming easier as they circle the Christmas tree slowly. Rin laughs under his breath, expression open and bright, and Makoto thinks, ah, this is what Rin wanted when he saw the skating rink.

 

He has to admit, it is sort of romantic, having Rin guide his stumbling steps.

 

“Woah, Oniichan, why don’t you skate properly?” a boy skates up to them—probably the same age as Ren and Ran—peering curiously at their joined hands. “Wow, you _are_ bad at this!”

 

“Kazu-kun, don’t be mean,” a younger girl chides, circling around Makoto and looking him up and down, sizing him. “This Oniichan is huge, it’ll hurt even more when he falls.”

 

Rin rolls his eyes, but there’s a small smile playing on his lips. “He’s not going to fall as long as I have him, brats.”

 

It sounds like a promise, though, one that makes Makoto’s smile widens. He looks back at the two children, tugging Rin’s hands so they stop, and then crouches. He keeps one hand holding Rin’s though, because he doesn’t want to slip and fall face first on the ice. “Hi guys. Are you here together?”

 

“We’re cousins!” the children choruses.

 

“That’s nice,” Makoto grins. “I’m learning how to skate right now—it’s been a really long time since I last went skating. He’s helping me because he’s really good at it,” his head jerks up towards Rin, and the children’s gazes follow his gesture with some sort of admiration. “But I think a tip or two from you guys would help me learn faster.”

 

Bright faces beams up at him. “Leave it to us!”

 

“Right,” Rin says dryly, tugging Makoto up. “You prefer taking instructions from little kids.”

 

“You didn’t tell me anything,” Makoto chuckles, eyes dancing in mirth. He squeezes Rin’s hand meaningfully. “If it were up to you, you’d probably have us circling this rink and holding hands for hours without trying to teach me anything.”

 

Rin snorts, but there’s a different shade of red on his face that Makoto ‘s sure isn’t caused by the cold. “Don’t get so full of yourself, idiot.”

 

They spend the entire round with those children—Kazuki and Chihaya—instructing Makoto what to do. Don’t bend your knees like that, Kazuki chides, Daddy said it isn’t good form. Don’t slide your legs straight back, Chihaya tells him, slide it slightly sideways and it’ll go smoother. Don’t lean forward too much, Rin finally adds, but his hands feel like he keeps pulling Makoto forward and closer. Not that Makoto would complain.

 

By the second round around the Christmas tree, Rin lets go of his hands with a slightly concealed wistful look, and Makoto manages to skate rather smoothly, even if he still stumbles now and then. The children cheer, looking proud to have taught someone older, and they start skating by Makoto’s side while Rin watches from the sideboards. It’s past two in the afternoon, and more people are coming into the skating rink—children of various age, two couples that look like they’re also on a date, a group of elderly who look like they’re in their sixties or seventies but move on the ice like they’re born to do it.

 

Rin circles the Christmas tree, gazing up and taking in the majestic, evergreen branches, imagining it all lit up, like stars pinned in the spaces of the leaves. The Illumination Festival in the sand dunes on New Year’s would probably look better than this tree when lit up, but those lights aren’t precariously pinned between tiny evergreen leaves, and to him, it makes all the difference. Still, he wonders if Makoto would want to go to the sand dunes on New Year’s, walking under and along lights set up to decorate everything they could find upon the sand.

 

The sky is bright, even if a little somber, and Rin remembers a time when he was little, when Gou pulled at him as they skate around this very tree, chasing their father tirelessly as their mother cheered from the sideboard. Remembers tiny fingers gripping the edge of his winter jacket hard when he taught Gou to ice skate the first time. Remembers the way his own fingers holding on his father’s leather jacket when he learned to skate for the first time.

 

“Rin!”

 

He starts, turning around hastily towards Makoto’s voice in order to hide the wash of nostalgia that just washed over him, and sees Makoto lurch towards him in uncontrollable speed with those devil incarnate cousins pushing him from behind. Makoto’s eyes are wide, and Rin has a second to take a hesitant step back before—

 

“Rin, watch out!”

 

“Wai—Makoto!”

 

—Makoto hits him point blank, body smacking into him with a loud “Ooof!” and sending them both tumbling onto the ice. Rin lets out an undignified, high-pitched shriek as his back hits the ice, his elbow digging into the frozen surface painfully. He grimaces—at least his head didn’t hit anything—has a second to realize that Makoto is literally on top of him, now: their hips and chests pressing, Makoto’s arms bracketing his shoulders, Makoto’s right leg between his legs, Makoto’s body a full weight on top of him as the taller boy’s head hangs above Rin’s, and then there’s a fleeting sensation of lips pressing onto his own, soft and hot and fast, and then it disappears.

 

Rin blinks and forgets to breathe.

 

Makoto’s face is bright red; a combination of embarrassment and adrenaline, perhaps, and he refuses to meet Rin’s eyes as he pulls himself on his knees. A palm drapes over his mouth, and Rin just can’t get over how adorable he looks.

 

Behind him, the two cousins are laughing like there’s no tomorrow.

 

“You oaf,” Rin says, but his voice trembles ever so slightly, and he pushes Makoto on the shoulders to make up for it. Makoto’s shoulders shake, breathless chuckle filtering out of his palm that’s still pressed upon his mouth, and it’s so adorable Rin just wants to pull him in and kiss him properly.

 

He doesn’t, though, because his own face feels like it’s on fire.

 

“Get off,” he complains half-heartedly, even if Makoto isn’t practically on top of him anymore. Makoto obeys, drawing himself up and offering a hand to Rin. He takes it, squeezes it firmly once and puts all the things he want to promise to Makoto: _I’m going to kiss you senseless, keep you under me and ravish you properly once we get back home, just you wait and see. I’m going make you writhe and laugh breathlessly, I’m going to trace words onto your skin, let them seep inside you and make you mine and never ever let go, forever—_

 

It sounds foolish even in his head, but Rin’s okay with his romantic side as long as no one finds or points it out.

 

“Sorry, “ Makoto says, eyes finally finding Rin, grinning helplessly. Rin raises an eyebrow. “These guys suddenly pushed me from behind, I couldn’t control it.”

 

“And?” Rin prompts, because damn, Makoto still kissed him in public and even though it was just a peck and nobody probably saw them, that was still _daring_.

 

“…oh,” Makoto says, like he’s just realized something. “I’m—not sorry about the other one.” Then his grin widens, the cheeky bastard. Rin shoves him on the side playfully, not strong enough to topple him, then skates over to the two devil incarnates who stand innocently next to the sideboards.

 

“That’s dangerous, brats,” he tells them, putting his best stern look that even Gou wouldn’t dare to defy. Makoto can’t do that now, because he looks too happy with himself, so Rin is trying to be the responsible one, here. “Don’t push people when we’re on ice, someone could get seriously hurt.”

 

“He looks happy,” Kazuki replies petulantly. Chihaya elbows him in the stomach, and he looks up sheepishly. “We’re sorry,” they choruses, and Rin thinks it’s good enough, so he just pushes their hats down until their eyes are covered and they yelp. It’s satisfying.

 

Rin skates by Makoto’s side afterwards, the two taking it easy as the skating rink slowly fills up with people. They talk about nothing and everything at once, and sometimes Makoto lets himself be riled up enough for them to race around the Christmas tree. The old woman on the register comes over when they take a break off the skating rink for a while, bearing warm smiles and hot tea that the two boys take with grateful words. Kazuki and Chihaya pull them back into the rink, and they play for another hour, until the twins wave goodbye when their grandpa comes over to pick them up, enthusiastically calling out for them to play again sometime.

 

Makoto glances at his watch. “It’s three,” he says wistfully. “We should be heading back pretty soon.”

 

“I’m hungry,” Rin mutters. Makoto laughs and pulls him over to the sideboards.

 

They leave the skating rink with a promise to the old woman on the register to come and play again before the winter ends. Makoto finds himself already thinking about his schedule and trying to fit another visit in even as they falls into step back on the paved road, walking along the canals to the calming sound of rushing water. Today have been wonderful, even more so than he’d expected. Rin is warm by his side, arms occasionally brushing against his as they walk towards the coffee shop near the station with hot chocolate in mind.

 

“You know,” Rin says over hot chocolate and sandwiches on their table fifteen minutes later. “We should probably take Haru and the others the next time we decide to come here.”

 

Makoto blinks in surprise, but then his eyes fall. “Oh,” he replies quietly, because he’d enjoyed today with Rin, just the two of them. He’d enjoyed the rare intimacy, the subtle gestures warm with affection that the public doesn’t catch. “Uh, yeah. We should—“

 

“So,” Rin cuts him off, but his eyes are trained on his cup of hot chocolate like it’s the most interesting thing in the world. “We could maybe go to the Illumination Festival.”

 

Makoto pauses.

 

“On the sand dunes,” Rin finishes, hesitant, anxious fingers tapping against the rim of his cup, a faint shade of red across his cheeks. “Just the two of us..?”

 

Makoto’s breath catches as his heart skips a beat. He ducks his head, feeling heat crawling up so fast because Rin looks really cute—and he probably shouldn’t even think of Rin as cute, god knows what kind of hell Rin could raise if anyone ever called him that. But the sight of the redhead biting his lips and stealing glances at Makoto and shifting on his seat—

 

“You have no idea,” Makoto breathes. “How much I’d like to kiss you right now.”

 

Their eyes meet, and the way Rin’s eyes darken sends shivers down Makoto’s spine.

 

Later, much later, he does come into Rin’s room, where Rin tells Nitori to go and not come back for at least two hours, to which the underclassman flashes knowing smile at. Later, he does have Rin crawling upon him, pressing kisses and trailing words upon his skin that Makoto can’t begin to comprehend because he’s distracted by Rin’s touches and Rin’s hair and the taste of Rin on the tip of his tongue. Later, Rin whispers his name against his lips in a strangled tone, and he lets Rin’s name out of his lips in breathless gasps, and nothing else matter, does it, when their worlds collide into one haze of pleasure that leaves their minds blank.

 

But now, as they leave the coffee shop, Makoto pulls Rin aside into a narrow alleyway and kisses him, deep and thorough, enjoying the way Rin licks his lips when they part, and that rogue grin Rin sends his way when he pulls Makoto out back to the road.

 

Everything is enough as it is.

 

**\-----o0ofinitoo0o-----**

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for the horrible grammar; this one is unbeta-ed because I couldn't find someone to do so. Had to scramble for thesis-related problems a few days ago. ;A;
> 
> Happy Makoto's Birthday, Halcyon! Hope you're having fun as well as I did when I wrote this! :D


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